Republic Square - Vila do Conde

The Praça da República is located between the Cais das Lavandeiras and the bridge over the Ave river.

Today it is a beautiful garden flanked by the river and 18th and 19th century houses .

Formerly called "Campo da Feira" or "Terreiro" , this space was used for traditional cattle markets . At the beginning of the 20th century, it was renamed Praça da Republica. Around 1950, the square was paved and landscaped. The clear neoclassical inspiration can still be seen today in the regular, symmetrical shapes of the flowerbeds and the granite fountain in the centre of the garden.

The beds are carefully planted seasonally with flowering annual herbaceous plants of colourful diversity, with the use of colour being a supposed way to “renew” the space.

From this public garden, a reference in the imagination of all of Vila-Condenses, you can look out over the banks and the mouth of the Ave River.

Willem Vandenameele